


still it's you

by atemzug



Category: CLC (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, F/F, Light Angst, Love Alarm au, Non-Linear Narrative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:54:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24678850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atemzug/pseuds/atemzug
Summary: It's been five years since, and Seunghee still can't let go.
Relationships: Chonnasorn Sajakul | Sorn/Oh Seunghee, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Yook Sungjae/Oh Seunghee
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18
Collections: Spring Blossom Fest - A ficfest for female idols





	still it's you

**Author's Note:**

> written for **spring blossom bingo. boxes: emotional infidelity, confessions, blue, stargazing, a first and a last** (here is my [bingo card](https://imgur.com/a/v1fIJ5L)!)
> 
> this is [love alarm](https://youtu.be/8sXTfzaLmiQ). if you're not familiar with it, here's a short description from [when in manila](https://www.wheninmanila.com/love-alarm-would-you-download-an-app-that-lets-your-crush-know-you-like-them/): _"The concept of the app is this: with it being in sync with one’s feelings, your love alarm will ring and alert you if someone within a ten-meter radius likes you! Conversely, your crush’s love alarm will ring as well once you’re in their ten-meter radius."_
> 
> i edited this as much as i could before posting, but i was already running late so pls forgive all the errors and mistakes TT
> 
> lastly, thank you dearest mods for this lovely fic event!!!

_Ding!_

Seunghee rolls her eyes out of instinct. It seems like her sole reaction now whenever she hears the app's familiar ring. It’s funny how, just a few years ago, this sound was the most exciting thing to hear; now it’s just annoying, and, even though she’d hate to admit it, it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. 

  
  
  
  
  


An empty campus feels surreal, Seunghee thinks, as it’s always brimming with busy students most of the time she’s here. The dormitory halls are also empty now, since most of the students checked in have already checked out and left. 

She goes straight to her room. Even this small square space feels so empty and lifeless, as her roommate, Eunbin, had already gone back home earlier that day too. Seunghee can only wish she were as lucky. Unlike her roommate, Seunghee still has a few things to sort out, and she doesn’t want to leave the campus or else she’d be too lazy to work on them. She thought she could at least have a good night's sleep, exhaustion weighing her down, the ceiling’s peeling light blue paint the last thing she remembers seeing before falling asleep. 

That is, until she wakes up in the middle of the night, her phone ringing loudly in the empty room.

She feels for her phone in the sheets, with the intention of declining the call regardless who it's from— until she sees the caller ID. Her eyes shoot open as she sits up, her heart suddenly beating too fast. Why in the world is Sorn calling her in the dead of night?

"Hello?" she answers the call.

"Hey," Sorn replies, laughing probably at the sound of Seunghee’s voice heavy with sleep. "Did I wake you up?"

"Obviously. What's wrong?"

"Come down."

"I’m calm,” Seunghee clarifies. “Just a little mad you woke me up— and a little worried.”

Sorn’s cackling laughter, even from the phone’s speaker, is loud enough to fill Seunghee’s empty room. The room isn’t the only thing that was once empty before Sorn appeared, but that’s not something Seunghee likes to dwell on.

“Will you tell me what’s going on?” Seunghee asks, slightly annoyed by being woken up but left in the dark. 

“I meant, _come down,_ ” Sorn answers, still giggling. “Let’s go somewhere.”

"It's, like, 2 AM, Sorn," Seunghee points out, although she knows all too well that won’t sway the other, anyway. 

"So?" 

It’s not like Seunghee cares about time when she’s with Sorn, either. 

"Give me 5 minutes."

Without a second’s hesitation, she’s running down the stairs and exiting the halls. Sorn’s bright blue pick up, and her bright blue hair, can’t ever be mistaken even in the dark.

  
  
  
  
  


Seunghee thinks it’s just because she grew up, became more mature, that’s why she cares less about Love Alarm, if she even still cares at all. After all, five years is a long time to still be invested in an application that came out when she and her peers were barely even adults. But who is she kidding? She still cares, of course. That’s why, even though she’s changed phones a couple times since Love Alarm was released, she still has it in the one she uses right now. 

That’s why, as soon as she realizes the previous _Ding!_ sounded so close - _too close_ \- she immediately fishes for the phone in her bag.

When she sees the notification, she almost drops it, along with her heart.

  
  
  
  
  


Sorn drives them around the district, with no particular location in mind, ending up at the empty lot that's known to every uni student as _the parking lot where things happen_ , because it's near a lot of bars and everyone parks their cars there, even though Seunghee's sure someone actually owns this space. 

Nothing's ever happened to her here, anyway. She and Sorn go here a lot to smoke until their minds are less cloudy, and to lie down in the back of Sorn's pick up, drunkenly gazing and pointing at stars in the sky, giggling like silly teenagers in love. 

This night could pass as one of those nights: they're sharing a cigarette while looking up at the stars, laughing at the wrong names they're giving the constellations ("That one's Junwoo," Seunghee says, pointing at a random cluster of stars as Sorn almost chokes on smoke).

But tonight is different, Seunghee tells herself, because 1) they're both completely sober, which makes her feel as if something important is going to happen, and 2) they aren't teenagers in love, which reminds her that she can't reach out for Sorn and that nothing will ever happen between them here.

"It's weird around campus, isn't it?" Sorn says, passing the cigarette to Seunghee. "No one's walking around almost bumping into each other."

She inhales the smoke, lets it go deep into her lungs, and releases it slowly. "Yeah," she answers. "It's so quiet, it's eerie."

Sorn laughs, taking back the cigarette that's almost burnt up to its butt. "No ringing here and there, huh?" 

"That stupid app." Seunghee rolls her eyes. "Everyone and their mom has it."

"It's actually not stupid," Sorn counters. "I think it's genius. Whoever made it is genius. They're probably, like, a lonely hopeless romantic or something, but still genius."

“I have it,” Seunghee admits. She's probably as much a hopeless romantic as the person Sorn's talking about, although she'd like to think she's less lonely. She doesn't like admitting things like these, but it's not like Sorn doesn't already know as much.

“Huh?”

“Love Alarm,” she explains. “Eunbin downloaded it on my phone the other day.”

Sorn scoffs. “You know you could’ve just deleted it right away, right?”

Seunghee wants to make up an excuse, like she forgot to, or that Eunbin made her promise she won't delete it, but all she can let out is a soft sigh and, “I know.”

"I have it, too," Sorn tells her. 

"Everyone and their mom really does, huh?"

"Shut up." Sorn gets off the back of her pick up so she can throw the cigarette butt on the ground and step on it. Her back is to Seunghee when she says, quietly, "I knew you had it since last night." 

Seunghee shoots up. "What?" She's not sure if she heard it right. How could Sorn have known?

Sorn turns around to face her. Seunghee's breath hitches at how beautiful she looks. Under the light of the old lamppost, Sorn's cold blue hair looks warm as the wind blows its strands away from her face, and her eyes look so bright as she gazes at Seunghee. Her smile is soft when she says, in an equally soft tone, "You rang mine."

Seunghee's eyes open wide in surprise, her hand automatically making its way to her pocket, feeling for her phone just as it suddenly starts vibrating. Then:

_Ding!_

  
  
  
  
  


Seunghee frantically looks around the boutique, her heart beating so loudly.

There’s no way Sorn is here, she thinks. Then again, she realizes, there’s no way Sorn can still ring Seunghee’s Love Alarm when it’s already been five years.

Could it be that Sungjae finally installed it too?

Seunghee looks around again, this time a little less panicked, though her heart is still skipping beats. She spots her boyfriend outside the store, looking down at his phone. He looks up when he notices her looking, smiles and waves his hand, mouthing, “Are you done shopping?”

In a daze, it takes Seunghee a few seconds before she shakes her head slightly and smiles back at him, answering, “No.” 

Because of this stupid application, she forgot she’s supposed to be shopping for Sungjae’s mom, as she and her boyfriend are visiting her this weekend. Honestly, she even forgot about her boyfriend for a while, which makes her feel guilty, because every now and then she really forgets she has a boyfriend, even though they’ve now been together for more than a year.

Sungjae is perfect. He's tall, handsome, rich, funny, kind— you name it. Every girl she’s friends with fawns over him, and they never fail to tell her how lucky she is to be dating him. Seunghee is sure had they known she sometimes forgets about him, they’d all be in a hurry to slap some sense into her.

Seunghee cares about none of that, anyway. The only thing that’s important to her is that Sungjae doesn't have the stupid app.

These days, it's pretty much impossible to find anyone who doesn't have Love Alarm on their phone; it makes dating terribly hard for Seunghee because she can never hide the fact that she doesn't like all the people she's gone on dates with, all because she can never ring their Love Alarm. She thinks it’s so stupid, the way people have been so dependent on an application in order to find love, and yet even she can’t find it in herself to get rid of the app.

Sungjae is perfect, because Seunghee can pretend she really likes him, and she doesn't have to prove anything by ringing a stupid app.

  
  
  
  
  


Seunghee takes the phone out of her pocket, and immediately sees the notification.

“Is this…” she starts, not looking up from her phone. “Is this you? You rang mine?”

She doesn’t have to look up to know that Sorn is rolling her eyes when she replies, “Do you see anyone else here?”

“Is this a prank?” Seunghee asks, finally looking at the other. She can’t believe it. She doesn’t want to let herself believe it, even if it’s true.

“How can I—?” Sorn shakes her head. “What part of Love Alarm do you not understand?”

“You...” Seunghee inhales deeply. “You like me?”

Sorn looks away, but the blush that creeps up her face can’t be mistaken even under bad lighting. “I’m moving back to Thailand tomorrow,” she says quietly. 

“What?!”

“In a few hours, I mean,” Sorn clarifies. “My parents want me to finish uni there."

"What?" Seunghee repeats, her voice barely above a whisper, still in disbelief. 

"We’re probably never seeing each other again," Sorn continues. "I figured I might as well tell you.”

Seunghee needs a moment to process this sudden load of information. Sorn knows she likes her. And Sorn likes her back. But Sorn is moving back to Thailand in a few hours. And Sorn said they're probably never seeing each other again. 

It'a a little too much to digest, and she's given too little time before she has to act. 

"I just thought I should tell you, since I already knew you liked me," Sorn starts. "There's nothing to lose, right?"

 _There's everything to lose,_ Seunghee doesn't say. Instead, she hops off the back of the car and kisses Sorn, hard, like she's always wanted to. She runs her fingers through her long blue hair like she's always imagined to. 

There's everything to lose, Seunghee believes, because in a world where everyone's feelings are accidentally coming out, possibly without them even knowing, there really is everything to lose. People will reject her solely for liking someone people believe she shouldn't like. But tonight Seunghee lets herself be careless, to not be afraid of losing everything. If she's already losing Sorn in a few hours, what else is there to be afraid of?

So she lets Sorn kiss her back even harder until her lips bruise. She lets her push her into the back of the car. She lets her hand roam everywhere, lets her lips travel everywhere, not caring if anyone sees. 

Because in a world where love is becoming less and less of a secret, why should _they_ be afraid? 

  
  
  
  
  


It's when Seunghee's heartbeat has finally settled, when she was finally sure she was just overreacting and starting to imagine things, that she sees her.

She's still unmistakable, even when her hair isn't a striking shade of blue anymore, and she's wearing designer shades that somehow cover almost half of her face.

Seunghee's heart starts racing again, and the more she realizes it really is Sorn, the harder it is to breathe. She looks at her from afar and she's reminded of the fleeting moments they'd once shared in her empty dorm room, filled only by the sounds they made as they bared their souls to each other, whispering in each other's ears about how scared they both were. She's reminded of how, when she woke up and Sorn wasn't there anymore, the room was still so full of her: her clothes, her scent, the strands of her hair, the words she'd whispered in Seunghee's ears; Sorn was everywhere, yet she was nowhere, and Seunghee cried herself to sleep that morning, feeling cheated by everything she's ever known. 

It's unfair that, in a world where confessions are done by simply walking around, ringing someone's phone and hoping they ring yours back, it's only _them_ who had - still have - to be afraid. 

With that same bitter taste in her mouth, she brings out her phone and opens up the app, going to the settings where she can uninstall it. As her finger hovers above the button that will finally delete the app, she takes one last look at Sorn, who's making her way back to her car - it's the same bright blue pick up Seunghee knows even better than she knows the inside of her boyfriend's car, only now someone else drives it: a guy Seunghee doesn't know, and he comes out to open the door for Sorn, kissing her cheek in the process - and Seunghee finally looks away. 

The moment her finger touches the button, she hears, very faintly from the distance, but somehow still loud enough to make her knees buckle: 

_Ding!_

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!  
> i hope it wasn't hard to understand, considering the time skips and the over all concept of the love alarm app ><
> 
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/crashingfalling)


End file.
